Latest / Missing Context / She Left Work. The Next Morning, Her Car Was Found Abandoned - Noriko Tsujide

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She Left Work. The Next Morning, Her Car Was Found Abandoned - Noriko Tsujide · Missing Context

0:09
SPEAKER_01: At around 11 o'clock on the night of November 24th, 1998, Noriko Tsujide finished work at a small publishing company in Isei, Japan.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: She was 24 years old and she'd been working as a reporter and editor for a local magazine called Ise Shima for about a year and a half.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: She'd been working late that night, going through photographs and material from recent interviews.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: Her boss had apparently told her to go home, but Noriko said she just had a few things left to wrap up.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: A little after 11 p.m., she finally left.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: She was supposed to drive home.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: She'd never made it.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: But nobody knew that yet.
0:55
SPEAKER_01: The next morning, Noriko's parents, Michio and Yasuharu, tried calling her cell phone.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't get through.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: That was concerning, but it wasn't completely out of character for Noriko to be difficult to reach.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: Her parents were used to her working late.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: They were also used to her being independent and keeping hours that could be very unpredictable.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: It probably worried them sometimes, but they'd grown accustomed to her unusual schedule.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: Noriko often traveled on her own.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: She would make international trips without much hesitation, and when she was a student in Kyoto, she once rode a moped all the way back to her parents' home in Isei.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: That's roughly a seven-hour ride on a small motorcycle through the mountains with large vehicles passing and honking along the way.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: But it was just the kind of thing Noriko did.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: So when she didn't come home, her parents didn't instantly think she was in danger.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: At Noriko's office the next morning, her colleagues weren't immediately alarmed either.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Noriko had worked late the night before, so when she didn't come in at her usual time, there was an obvious explanation.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: She'd probably gotten home close to midnight and planned to come in a few hours later.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: But time passed.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: And back at Noriko's home, her parents kept calling her cell phone.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Still no answer.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: Eventually, they contacted the publishing office.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: They learned that nobody had seen or heard from Noriko since she left the night before.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Now Noriko's parents knew something was wrong.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Michio called the police and reported her daughter missing.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: A few hours later, the police contacted the Tsujides.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's dark blue Nisan march had been found in a parking lot belonging to an insurance company about half a mile from her office.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: The car was locked.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: There was no obvious sign that anyone had forced their way inside.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: Yasuharu and Michio hurried to see it.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: And when they looked closely, the car raised even more questions.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: The driver's seat had been pushed further back than Noriko normally kept it.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: She was about five feet three inches tall, and the position of the seat suggested that someone considerably taller may have been driving.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: There was also a cigarette butt inside the car.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Noriko didn't smoke.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: The car had been parked awkwardly outside the lines, which her parents thought was unusual, because Noriko was normally very careful about things like that.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: And the radio was switched off.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: Noriko apparently liked to leave it on.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: So there was her car, sitting less than a mile from the office where she had worked the night before.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: But Noriko was gone.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: To understand who Noriko was, it helps to look at the life she had built for herself.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: She'd just come back from Thailand.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Travel was a big part of Noriko's life.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: She'd studied law and political administration at Ritsumeiken University in Kyoto, graduated in 1997, and returned to her hometown to work as a reporter and editor.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: She traveled around Asia whenever she could, taking photographs and writing about the people and places she encountered.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: She'd been to Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, and other parts of the region.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: Noriko was determined to make a name for herself as a serious journalist, and she wanted to take on difficult stories, the controversial subjects that other people might hesitate to pursue.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Noriko was young, but she wasn't timid about the work she wanted to do.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: And on November 24th, she'd done exactly what she normally did.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: She went to work, she stayed late, she left the office to head home.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: And then she disappeared.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: More than 27 years later, Noriko has still not been found.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Mie Prefectoral Police, who cover the city of Isei, continue to investigate her disappearance as a possible crime.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And this is where the story gets particularly baffling.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: There was someone who knew where Noriko had been that night.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Noriko had been in contact with a man she knew through her work.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: Several calls had passed between them on November 24th, and according to this man's own account, he met Noriko late that night.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: He was the last known person to see her.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: And more than two decades later, he's still living in the same city where Noriko disappeared.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: This is missing context.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Stories from Asia and the Asian Diaspora.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Noriko Tsujide was born in 1974 in Mizayaki Prefecture.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: Her family moved several times because of her father's work before eventually settling in the coastal town of Isei.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's sights, however, were set well beyond her little town.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Some of the photographs she left behind show where her curiosity took her.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: Rural communities, refugee camps, and places far from the usual tourist trail.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: She had a habit of approaching strangers, asking questions, and getting close enough to see how they lived.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: That curiosity suited the kind of journalist she was becoming.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: By 1998, Noriko was reporting and editing for a regional magazine, interviewing active community members, building experience, and making contacts through her work.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: One of those contacts was a man who would later become central to the investigation into her disappearance.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: The police response to Noriko's disappearance would go on to become one of the most troubling parts of the case.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: When Michiko reported her daughter missing, police didn't immediately treat it as a criminal investigation.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: A former investigator later said that at the time, missing person cases were handled differently and that officers often waited because people who disappeared sometimes just returned home on their own.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: In Noriko's case, that meant the first few weeks passed without investigators knowing exactly what they were looking for.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Her phone records weren't obtained until Christmas Eve, a month after she disappeared.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: And there was another decision that would later arise more questions.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's father was allowed to drive her Nisa and March home from the parking lot before police had fully examined the vehicle for forensic evidence.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: By the time investigators examined the car more closely, opportunities to recover evidence that might have been there immediately after her disappearance had already been lost.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: The records from Noriko's phone eventually led investigators to a man she knew through her work.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: He's often been referred to as Suspect X in reports.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: They showed that Noriko and X had talked several times on November 24th.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: That changed the tone of the investigation.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: Because this man clearly wasn't a stranger who happened to cross paths with Noriko that night.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: She actually knew him through her reporting.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Noriko had been working on a local story, and she'd actually been introduced to X several months ago.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: He was involved in community activities and nature events for children, and people who knew X described him as personable and well-connected.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: Noriko had written about X for her publication.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Now, police had someone who could account for at least a part of Noriko's final evening.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: The problem was that X hadn't initially told them he had seen her.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: He said he'd met Noriko for the interview months ago in the summer.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: But when investigators confronted him with their phone records, his story began to change.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: With the phone records now in front of him, X admitted that he'd been in contact with Noriko on November 24th and that they'd met that night.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: He said that he'd called her to apologize for an earlier misunderstanding, and they arranged to meet near where she'd left her car.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: According to his account, Noriko got into his vehicle and they spent some time together before he dropped her off and went home.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: But X's account of where he left Noriko wasn't consistent.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: In one version, he said he drove away from the parking lot and dropped her at an area nearby.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: In another, the distance was only about 20 or 30 meters from her own car.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: That left investigators with a basic question.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: If Noriko was dropped off somewhere nearby, why hadn't she gone back for her car?
11:17
SPEAKER_01: A former investigator later admitted that he did not find X's account credible at all.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Police questioned X for several days in January and February of 1999, but they just couldn't gather enough evidence to charge him in connection with Noriko's disappearance.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: So X was let go.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Then, while police were still investigating him, another case brought X back into custody.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: About a year before Noriko's disappearance, X had allegedly been involved in an incident in Tokyo.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: A woman had accused him of confining her inside an apartment.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: The case was completely separate from Noriko's disappearance.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: But in February 1999, about two and a half months after Noriko disappeared, X was arrested in connection with the confinement case.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: While he was being held, police continued questioning him about Noriko.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: According to later reporting, his lawyer told him not to answer.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: But he did speak to Noriko's parents multiple times.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Yasuharu visited him several times while X was detained.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: And during that time, X sent Noriko's family a written statement through his lawyer.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: He made a very specific promise.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: If he were acquitted in the Tokyo confinement case, and police and prosecutors came to believe he had nothing to do with Noriko's disappearance, he would tell the Tsujude family everything he knew about Noriko's case.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks later, X was acquitted.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: The court found the evidence in the confinement case insufficient for a conviction and he was again released.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: But he never followed through on that promise he made.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Years later, a journalist went to his home and reminded him of that promise, but X refused to talk.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: He said he had nothing to say.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: When Noriko's mother heard about the encounter, she had a simple question.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: If he really knew nothing about Noriko's disappearance, why not just tell them this?
13:48
SPEAKER_01: We still don't know why X made that promise or why he later refused to keep it.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: But the promise really mattered to Noriko's parents.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: For a while they had reason to believe that once the other case was over, they might finally hear X's account of what happened to their daughter.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: They never did.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: The investigation into the separate confinement case created another strange problem.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: As we know, X was held for months and also questioned extensively about Noriko's disappearance.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: His lawyer advised him to remain silent.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: After he was acquitted of the confinement charge, however, he received criminal compensation.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: X complained about the way he had been treated during questioning, and reports on the case described allegations of improper interrogation.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: But for the Noriko investigation, the important point was pretty simple.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Police had spent months questioning a man they believed could have information about her disappearance, and they still could not gather enough evidence to charge him.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Once the confinement case ended, so did that particular opportunity to keep questioning X in custody.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: And police were no closer to finding out what X knew.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: By then, another opportunity had also been lost.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: When Noriko's car was found, the police contacted her parents because it had been left in an insurance company parking lot and was parked unusually, and the police weren't able to get in touch with Noriko.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's parents noticed the strange details inside, but they were still allowed to use a spare key to drive it to the police station and then back home.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's dad later said he regretted moving it and that the car should have been left exactly where it was.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: By the time investigators conducted a more extensive forensic examination, nearly two months had passed.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: The car had already been thoroughly cleaned, and no hair or other useful forensic evidence was found.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Think about what that car had contained when it was first found.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: The driver's seat pushed back, a cigarette butt even though Noriko didn't smoke.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Her belongings were missing.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: Those clues were there from the beginning.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: That's so frustrating because we'll never know what was lost in this delay.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: We can never know what investigators might have found if they'd examined the car immediately, or whether it would have changed anything at all.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it would have led nowhere.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe the evidence would have been enough to establish who had been inside the car, where Noriko had gone, or what happened after she left work.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: As the investigation stalled, people began looking more closely at Noriko's work.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: One place that kept coming up was Watakano Island in Mie Prefecture.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: For years, the island has been known for human trafficking, and Japanese reporting has described a history of exploitation, especially prostitution, connected to the area.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: It became notorious enough to earn the nickname the Prostitution Island.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: Noriko had reported on the region, and that was enough to fuel a theory.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Maybe she'd been looking into the island, discovered something dangerous, and disappeared because of it.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: It's a possibility, but that's really all it is at this point.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: There's no established evidence that Noriko was investigating a criminal operation on Watakano Island, that she discovered something that put her in danger, or that an organized criminal group had anything to do with her disappearance.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: The connection rests largely on the fact that she was a journalist who had an interest in the region, combined with a disappearance that still has no explanation.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: Then there was another theory that would take Noriko's disappearance far beyond Mie.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: North Korea.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: Japanese authorities say the abductions were believed to have served several purposes, including stealing Japanese identities and forcing abducted people to teach North Korean agents how to speak and behave like the Japanese.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: By the time Noriku disappeared in 1998, the period most associated with the confirmed abductions was already decades behind her.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: But her disappearance was still unusual enough that North Korea could not be completely ruled out.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's name eventually appeared among cases where the possibility of a North Korean abduction had not been eliminated.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Mia police have acknowledged the possibility, but again, there's no specific evidence showing that Noriko was taken to North Korea.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: There's no confirmed sighting of her there, no verified communication, no evidence showing how she could have even been taken from Japan.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: Some people have speculated that her work as a journalist could have put her in contact with sensitive subjects or people she shouldn't have crossed.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: Others have suggested she might have witnessed something connected to North Korean activity along Japan's coast.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: But those are, again, theories.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: They're possible explanations.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: But there is no evidence strong enough to establish any of them.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: More than two decades later, police still don't know what happened to Noriko.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: The case has produced theories, suspects, and hundreds of interviews, but still no answer.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: For Noriko's parents, there has, of course, been no closure.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Michio, Noriko's mom, spent years contacting people Noriko had known, appearing on television, following leads, and searching wherever investigators thought there might be something to find.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: Police searched possible burial sites.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: They also considered the sea.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: One former investigator later said there could have been more than a thousand underwater cavities in the area, making a comprehensive search extremely difficult.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: So it was never completed.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Her family also created an exhibition of Noriko's photographs from her travels through Asia.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Those photographs give you a glimpse of the woman who existed before the case, a young journalist carrying her camera, meeting people, traveling, and just building her life.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: In 2020, Noriko's father, Yasuharu, said he believed Noriko was probably dead.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: What he wanted, he said, was to know what happened to Noriko.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: Even then, her parents continued asking for information.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: In 2025, more than 26 years after Noriko disappeared, her parents were still handing out flyers and asking people to come forward.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Mia police have questioned around 700 people over the years and received more than a hundred tips, but none of that has led them to Noriko.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: The case remains open.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Noriko was 24 when she disappeared.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: Today, she would be 51.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: On a night in November of 1998, she finished work and walked out of the building.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: She had a car waiting for her, but she had a home to return to.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Her parents expected her back.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Instead, her car was found the next morning in a parking lot less than a mile away.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Noriko was gone.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Twenty-seven years later, that is still where the story stops.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Her parents have spent those years looking for answers to what happened to their daughter.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: Noriko's disappearance remains unsolved.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: You are listening to Missing Context.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Stories from Asia and the Asian diaspora.